Tony McGrath
22 June 2011
Bookstore chain Barnes & Noble recently published financial details which indicate the company will need to further embrace ecommerce and electronic books if it wants to remain in business.
The company recently reported sales and earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, as well as for the full year ending April 30.
Store sales, according to the company, decreased by approximately 2.9 percent during the quarter, to approximately $943 million. Sales for the whole year were approximately $4.4 billion.
Several factors negatively impacted store sales, including the liquidation of more than 200 Borders bookstores during the quarter.
The company's online business, meanwhile, continued to grow, driven largely by the popularity of its Nook e-reader. The Barnes & Noble website experienced 78 percent sales growth in the fourth quarter and 65 percent during the year, compared to the equivalent periods in fiscal 2010.
The trend toward e-books and online book shopping may indicate that booksellers would do well to replace - or at least supplement - their brick-and-mortar stores with websites that can process online payments, experts say.
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